To strengthen the AirAsia | UFC partnership, Tai was welcomed to AirAsia's global brand ambassador roster - to further strengthen the company's position as a UFC brand partner, as well as promote our brand within the Australian market where Tai has a large following for both his work inside, and outside, the octagon.
Prior to working on any of our planned initiatives with Tai, we brought him to the AirAsia HQ and organised a meet and greet with staff. Although he is a household name within the UFC demographic, he was relatively unknown outside of that and this short session allowed face-to-face time to ask him questions and learn about his unique upbringing and career.
Ensuring that all staff were onboard with this story and partnership did help strengthen our messaging when we developed and published content on Tai - especially for staff who aren't involved with marketing and branding. The idea was that they would understand the story we were trying to tell as a brand and have an emotional connection to the person; enough to share the content we create organically.
Once we established our partnership, content pieces like the IGTV video (right) and photoshoots to utilise his image on banner ads and sales (left) helped build the association between his brand and ours.
We also utilised him to boost contests that we ran in tandem with our UFC partnership as well as promoting destinations within our network. This particular piece was in tandem with ALH Australia, where they featured this short video on screens across all their outlets in Victoria.
In addition to digital content, we also worked with Tai on developing training clinics across the region. These fight clinics were part of the AirAsia #DareToDream campaign and help build Tai's brand as someone who gives back; something he takes tremendous pride and action on back home with his local community.
This video was created during a trip to Manila, where he hosted a few young MMA enthusiasts and hopefuls - helping gain some valuable CSR milage for our brand in the Philippines.
Each of the two pictures above have links to press releases from around the region
